The Problem with Fiction
by Kythrae
Summary: One shot: Any avid reader, watcher, or gamer knows the true wish in their heart is to really be in the world they consume in the media chosen. However, what if the reverse is to occur in a subtle way all the time without anyone noticing? The Doctor, Amy, and Rory have come to a strange place and they have been greeted by an impossible man.


_The Storm never stopped here. Lightning smashed apart rock, earth, and streams. Rain, hail, and snow smothered the surface in random cycles. Clouds of all types and colors, and some never seen by living eyes, flowed through the skies overhead as the Storm raged. The Storm never stops, but it pauses between tantrums of grief and rage to cleanse the surface of any tiny hollow, any crevice where ideas may hide. In one of these pauses, an ordinary day for this place, the impossible was occurring._

* * *

_The laws of physics, magic, and reality are torn asunder as a wheezing, rhythmic cascade reaches its pinnacle and the most impossible object manifests form the most vague image to solid reality. A blue Police Box from 1969. It is not really a Police Box. It has never been one truly, but on a trip that was never supposed to be taken, one of the basic functions broke down and this is how it got stuck. From such a humble beginning a legend was born. The TARDIS. The last TARDIS known to exist had arrived in Nowhere._

* * *

"Doctor..." Amy's voice had the slight tinge to it she claimed it never did, but he knew it did. That tinge that said in just his name "what has gone wrong now?" Well he would not rise to the bait, everything was working fine for a change, no explosions, short circuits, or even a sneeze from the old girl. Which of course was wrong, wrong in ways that made his hair stand on end. He really needed to get that fez to cover those hairs. Assuming River would not shoot it to bits again. What a bother!

"Um, Doctor, the numbers are spinning." Oh good, Rory the Roman wants to point out the obvious. Well to be fair he did well for himself so far. Some serious bars have been raised by this one. What, 2000 years as a plastic replicant and still only wants to be a nurse?! How very human, good man! Oh yes the numbers, slightly problematic, certain doom quite possible. This should be really fun!

"Not to worry, I am all over it. Just let me adjust this bit here." The sonic screwdriver agrees with the TARDIS. Most mutinous of it, but confirmation always good. What does that bit do I wonder?

_The lights extinguished and sparks fluttered the lower half of the console room as the TARDIS settles to emergency power._

Right. Don't touch that again. Well, nothing for it but to go outside!

* * *

_The Doctor rushes to the console controls and swings the monitor over to him to see what can be seen when the TARDIS believes it has landed in Nowhere. Not a planet, nor orbit, not the Void, just Nowhere. Not even E-Space had this result. He adjusts his bowtie. If about to meet new people, even psychotically deranged madmen with delusions of grandeur, best to make a good first impression._

* * *

"Now then Amy, Rory, I have good news! We are not in the middle of deep space. There is definitely a breathable atmosphere outside. Well, mostly definitely. Ok, slight chance of certain death, but worth looking into yes?!" The blank looks of 'Are you quite mad?' notwithstanding they are still curious. Such good companions for this time of his life. Still, no dilly dally, time to see what is out there.

* * *

_The blue box opens to let out the Doctor and his two human companions into the Storm. For the first time in living memory, life not of the place has come. There is only one response, only one choice, the Sleeper awakens._

* * *

"Well this is very um...well, nothing?" Rory has been to Venice, alien worlds, and even a really good tea shop just the edge of the known universe, but the stark nothing covered in weird storm clouds was quite boring. Of course being with the Doctor had taught him that the surface usually hides terrible monsters bent on the destruction of mankind, the universe, or in general just in a bad mood.

What it did not cover was the man standing in front of him that was definitely not there before. No footprints, no cover pulled aside, just there suddenly and he seemed to be smiling nicely. _We could all very well be about to die._

"Uh Doctor, think I found a local...maybe." Amy and the Doctor came running around the TARDIS after seeing more bleak landscape than anyone should have to. For once, all three have the same thought: who is this and where did he come from?

"Right, well you just speak up now! Do you understand us?" Amy, much like the Doctor, liked to control the situation and definitely feel like progress is being made. However, this man just seems highly amused by them. Not threatened, not annoyed, just really amused and the Doctor seems in shock, even denial of shock.

"I assure you Doctor, Amy, and Rory, I mean you no harm. I was sent to meet you by-well I guess you could say consensus here. Although if it is truly aware of you I would be surprised and it would be delighted I am sure. It is best if you leave sooner than later." The man never seemed to change. His curly hair, imposing height certainly gave his bass voice a gravitas of authority, but where his clothes should have named him a fool it only seemed to heighten the effect. He wore sturdy pair of boots with weathered work pants, a plaid waistcoat with snowy doublet covered in dark frock topped by the longest, and most colorful scarf, Amy and Rory had ever seen. The hat seemed like something out of Indiana Jones but all of it together screamed of a familiarity neither could place.

"You are not me!" The Doctor seemed almost indignant, even slightly offended by the man and still curious. But what did he mean? Obviously this man was not him. The Doctor was shorter, straight hair...although the taste in clothes could be kind of a wash as far as Amy was concerned. But as Rory looked from one to the other, it was like something clicked, and he could not shake it only voice it.

"You are the Doctor?!" Shock showed on his Doctor's face, even a slight inclination of respect. Kind of like when he said he would guard the Pandorica for 2000 years to keep Amy safe inside it, but how was that question right?

"No. Well, yes and no. It would be more accurate to say I am a reflection of the Doctor. A specific incarnation, the fourth I believe,of the Doctor once wore this face and clothes in his travels. I also think there is a mountain with his face on it somewhere, but who knows what has survived in all the chaos." Never breaking stride or moving a step the man dropped the bomb of his identity without even the grace of a blush. Then, to further confuse things, the TARDIS appeared behind him or rather it was just there. Not materialized or summoned, just one moment nothing and the next it was there, but it was wrong.

Where the TARDIS they knew was almost new in appearance and neater in exterior, this one seemed more used. Probably in fact looked like a true Police Box from 1969 would look like after decades of service and it fit the man completely. Then, his TARDIS vanished, again no noise or any indication of movement, just gone.

"Ah, I see. You are me like that TARDIS just now. An echo in someone's mind. Interesting! Wonder how I did this one? Well no matter, I know how to get out now. Keep up the good work!" The Doctor collected his companions back into the TARDIS, but rather than activate the control panels, he simply stood inside the TARDIS entrance and seemed to be concentrating. Suddenly, the rotor was moving and the engines were cycling as if in mid flight and not from a landing to takeoff

* * *

"What just happened?! What did he mean fourth, and how did you fly the TARDIS from the door?!" Amy never liked NOT knowing anything but a whole understanding had just flown by and only Rory seemed to have snatched a part of it.

"It all comes back to the problem with fiction Amy. So long as there is any doorway, or possibility to play with an idea or story, it can live on. That was indeed a very good replica of my fourth body. I was so naive in those days. Also, I did not fly the TARDIS from the door, but I could if I wanted. I simply told the TARDIS where it was and it shifted us back on course. Quite thrilling eh?" The Doctor seemed to fly over to the console and work the controls like the mad scientist he sometimes appeared to be when 'modifying' the TARDIS, and all the while pieces began to fit together.

"We were in someone's IMAGINATION?!" Amy thought it was the stupidest thing ever conceived, but the Doctor hit the brake and came down with that serious look he often showed enemies. He looked deep into Amy's eyes and Rory's, and he glanced up at the top of the Rotor before he turned back.

"Amy, Rory, what makes you think the universe is Real? We live here, we have a past yes, but what if you could step outside for a moment into the mind of someone who pictured it all, or saw it all and kept the stories alive because they liked them? Is that reality any less valid than the one you know? It is like I said, the problem in Fiction is the stories need never end even when the creator is long gone and lost. In all you have seen is it so hard to imagine that sometimes, if enough people want it to, there are stories that take on realities of their own? To exist independent and still connected to those fictions people created for the Beginning of those realities? Very big secret that, tell no one. Really don't. There was that huge mess at Atlantis, but anyway on to the next adventure!"

* * *

_The impossible man in the impossible machine moved on in the Space/Time Vortex with his human companions shaken on their understanding of realities and universes. They had stepped into the imagination of someone that believed in them, and the Doctor. For a moment reality and Fiction met. It had parted amicably, if disturbingly easy, leaving only one question left. The crux of the problem in Fiction. Where does reality begin and the story end?_


End file.
